The $34 fee, approved by the university’s student government last month and reported by BuzzFeed News Tuesday, was widely criticized, with advocates saying it is highly unusual for students to fund services to combat sexual assault and ensure that their university remains compliant with federal law. Student leaders said this week that they felt they were left with no choice after the university failed to properly fund the office.

“By putting in a proposal to add an additional fee, that’s placing another financial burden on students,” A. J. Pruitt, the Student Government Association’s vice president of student affairs, told BuzzFeed. “It’s not something I’m excited about, but it gets us to fully funding the office in a short amount of time.”